


grateful

by pratintraining



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Nationals, Schmoop, Tokyo Nationals Arc (Haikyuu!!)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28994085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pratintraining/pseuds/pratintraining
Summary: "I know we fought a lot in first year, but the second we both said we were going to nationals, I knew we were something great. You, me, and Kai, together. And now here we are. Thank you for keeping up with me and our shared goals, 'cuz we made it, Kuroo. We didn't win nationals, but we played one of the best games I've ever played in my life, and I'm grateful we played it together on the same side."Today, Morisuke and his team lost at nationals, but it was an honourable loss after an amazing game he couldn't have been prouder to be a part of, and now he was dating the guy he'd crushed on for the better part of three years. All in all, not a bad day. Rated T for swears.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Yaku Morisuke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	grateful

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be at least a little bit angsty 'cuz i wanted yaku to be jealous about how often kuroo talks about kenma, but it didn't work out that way at all bc yaku cares a lot about kenma too, and i honestly think that boy is too full of respectful acknowledgement for others' abilities and personalities to be properly jealous about anything--he seems like the type to take something other people would be jealous about and make it a goal to achieve instead. so yeah, it turned into fluff on fluff, and i had trouble ending it bc they wouldn't stop with their banter. i blame that for the way this story kind of ambles without a direction lol. anyways, enjoy! :)

"Now's not the time to think fondly of our juniors," Morisuke told Kuroo, sitting with him and Kai in the lounge.

Kuroo turned to him, looking sarcastically bummed out. "Yakkun, have you ever heard of feelings?"

Morisuke looked back at Kuroo, hoping his face didn't betray any hurt. He almost wanted to laugh. Morisuke has had fucking _feelings_ for this dumb fucking tall beanpole with rooster hair since the end of first year, and the--the--audacity! The _audacity_ he had to say this so flippantly when Morisuke's been wasting away pining from behind him on the court, beside him at lunch, studying at home on the other side of a text conversation full of dumb pickup lines that would never be directed Morisuke's way.

_Yes_ , he has heard of _feelings_.

"Shut up," Morisuke grumbled, trying not to feel too butthurt about his stupid unrequited feelings.

"Let me be fond about Kenma," Kuroo continued. "He's my best friend and I practically dragged him into playing volleyball so the least I can do is be happy for the both of us that we're here, since Kenma doesn't care overly much." Kuroo had that wistful look on his face, and Morisuke tried not to sigh.

Kai caught his eye from in front of him and he raised a brow. Morisuke rolled his eyes back at him. He'd never really told anyone how he felt, but Morisuke had a feeling Kai knew--it was sort of hard to hide anything from him.

The thing was, Kuroo talked about Kenma a _lot_. Morisuke often wondered if there were feelings there, and if Kenma was a worse person, he might have felt bad about it. Instead, Kenma was a quietly steady presence on their team, silent and observant and fierce in a way Morisuke thought Kenma didn't realize about himself. Morisuke even found himself worrying about Kenma pretty often, especially after seeing the way their senpai had picked on him last year. He wasn't about to start talking about Kenma every single second of the day like Kuroo did, but he did kind of understand where Kuroo was coming from.

"It's great we're all here together," Kai said, ever affable.

For some reason, that comment made Kuroo turn to Morisuke. "Yeah," he agreed with a grin that Morisuke chose not to examine too closely. "Who'd have thought we'd be able to do anything together that first week of volleyball practice, right?"

Morisuke snorted. "You started it." This was an old argument, but he stood by it. "I didn't even remember you and the first thing you do is antagonize me for winning a game that happened _three years_ prior."

"Hey, that was the first time I'd ever been on a team that got so thoroughly wrecked," Kuroo pouted.

Morisuke just shrugged. "Well now we're on a team that can wreck other teams, and we're on it together."

"Hell yeah," Kuroo said, smacking both Morisuke and Kai on their backs. "I also like being behind you when you yell at Lev, and not in front of you being yelled at myself."

"I can yell at you for old time's sake if you'd like," Morisuke told him dryly.

"Ah, Yakkun, now's not the time to think fondly of our younger years," Kuroo snarked.

"Kuroo, have you ever heard of sarcasm?" Morisuke snarked back.

Kai observed them both with a happy smile.

*

They were taking public transport on the way home from nationals, and Morisuke was sitting beside Kuroo on the bus. The team left nationals at separate times since they all found their own ways of getting to there, and they'd all decided to meet up for a team hangout at the end of the week instead of going all together right now. Morisuke and Kuroo were sitting together near the back of the bus, with Kai and Fukunaga a few seats ahead of them. Inuoka and Shibayama had chosen to leave earlier than they had, and Kenma, Lev and Yamamoto stayed back to hang out with Hinata and his team downtown for the rest of the evening.

The game with Karasuno was still shining in his mind, one of the best games he'd ever played in his life so far. They lost, but it still felt so worth it to play. To have that experience, and know every single player on both teams gave it their all. Volleyball was the thrill of Morisuke's life, he loved it so goddamn much.

Kuroo looked thoughtful, sitting in silence beside him. The bus was surprisingly pretty empty for the afternoon, but it was probably because the four of them had decided to take one of the longer, less popular routes home. You didn't have to transfer buses halfway through, but it would take about an hour and a half to get back to the school neighbourhood.

Morisuke eyed Kuroo in the bus window's reflection and remembered the way Kenma sat on the court, breathing hard with the sweat on his back cooling and a smile on his face, the way he thanked his best friend for getting him into volleyball. Morisuke thought about Kuroo in the lounge at nationals, how he said he was going to be happy enough to be there for the both of them. He must feel over the moon finding out Kenma was happy to have been there too after all.

"Thank you," Kuroo said suddenly. Morisuke turned from the Kuroo in the window to the Kuroo next to him.

"For what?" Morisuke asked.

Kuroo bit his lip, pausing. Morisuke tried to think about the last time he saw Kuroo look so nervous about anything and came up empty.

"Kenma thanked me for getting him into volleyball," Kuroo started, with a smile Morisuke would bet was unconscious.

Morisuke smiled too, happy for his friends. There was no room for unrequited feelings in the face of the sheer happiness volleyball had given all of them. "Yeah, he did."

"So I'm thanking _you_ for getting me into Nekoma," Kuroo said. It was like a record scratch in his brain, interrupting his happy volleyball thoughts with confusion. Morisuke stared at him, stunned, and didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Kuroo continued before he had to say anything. "Remember how I said your team wrecked mine when we were in first year at middle school."

"Yeah, I remember," Morisuke replied, automatically rolling his eyes without fully registering what he was doing. Force of habit. "Are you _still_ mad about that? It's been six years now dumbass. I thought we agreed it's awesome we're on the same team now."

"No, that's my point," Kuroo said, nudging Morisuke's shoulder with his own. Morisuke suddenly became aware of Kuroo's proximity, the line of warm body heat pressed up all along his side, the way he was stuck between Kuroo and the window with nowhere else to go.

He wouldn't want to go anywhere anyways.

"I don't see how my middle school team wrecking yours has anything to do with you going to Nekoma," he said.

"I remembered you from that game," Kuroo said. "You were already so good at receiving, and it made me angry because I didn't think receiving was as important as spiking or blocking back then, and then you showed me I was wrong."

"Well, you've always been an idiot," Morisuke said flatly, trying to will away his blush at being remembered. He felt a little bit bad not remembering Kuroo--after three years beside him, two of them spent being intensely aware of him, it was hard to believe he hadn't noticed him in middle school. Then again, before Kuroo, all Morisuke noticed was the volleyball.

"Yakkun," Kuroo whined, "stop being mean when I'm trying to be sentimental."

"All right, sorry," Morisuke snickered. He took a breath and then waved a hand, magnanimous. "Go on." Sometimes he did shit like that without thinking and it made him feel like maybe he spent too much time with Kuroo.

Kuroo huffed before continuing. "Listen, it was because of you that I decided it was important to improve my receives," Kuroo said. "It was because of you that I could get onto a volleyball team so famous for its total defense." He looked weirdly shy as he was saying it, a light flush to his cheeks, looking away from Morisuke toward the aisle of the bus.

"Oh," Morisuke said, unsure. He usually readily accepted praise since he worked hard to be good, but Kuroo's uncharacteristic nervousness was making him nervous too. He defaulted to bluster because that's who Morisuke was when he didn't know what else to do. "I wouldn't have guessed it from the way you complained about it for three years straight."

Kuroo laughed but didn't deny it. "I was mad about being on the same team in first year for sure, since I wanted to defeat you so badly," he said, "but now I'm proud to be on the same side of the court with you, and grateful that I _can_ be."

Morisuke was sure his whole face resembled a tomato. "Like you could have defeated me anyways," he mumbled.

"Yakkun," Kuroo grinned, apparently more comfortable now that Morisuke probably looked like he was dying. This asshole was always more confident when he had the emotional upperhand, ugh. "Pour your heart out why don't you." He leaned in close, teasingly, smirking his stupid fucking smirk and enjoying Morisuke's embarrassment.

"Shut up," Morisuke grumbled, shoving his hand into Kuroo's face to push him away.

"Mori-chan is embarrassed," Kuroo continued to tease, pushing his face into Morisuke's hand to be contradictory and annoying. "Awhhh Yakkun, you're blushing so hard!" Why did Morisuke like him? Why?

"Shut up!" Morisuke yelled again, pushing him away with more force. He looked resolutely out the window, his arm locked in order to keep Kuroo bodily away. "I'm proud to be on the same team as you too, asshole!" Morisuke felt it as Kuroo stopped trying to get back into his personal space, and continued on before he lost his nerve. "You know that I take being the libero on a team famous for its defense as an honour, but it's also been an honour to stand on the court behind you to guard your back, and know that you trust me to do it."

"Yakkun?" Kuroo asked, face still smushed by Morisuke's hand.

"I said shut up," he told the window. "We're here because you're a great middle blocker, and an even greater captain. If you got into Nekoma because of me, then I'm glad to have helped, because Nekoma got to nationals because of you." Morisuke paused. "Well, I mean, we all obviously played important parts in going to nationals, but we needed someone unshakeable to lead us there and you did it."

"Yaku," Kuroo said quietly.

Morisuke turned to Kuroo. "I know we fought a lot in first year, but the second we both said we were going to nationals, I knew we were something great. You, me, and Kai, together. And now here we are. Thank you for keeping up with me and our shared goals, 'cuz we made it, Kuroo. We didn't win nationals, but we played one of the best games I've ever played in my life, and I'm grateful we played it together on the same side."

Kuroo's eyes looked bright with unshed tears. They'd all already cried at the loss earlier, but Kuroo _would_ start crying again. He was only ever antagonistic until he got soft. Morisuke felt fond all of a sudden, and he moved his hand from smooshing one of Kuroo's cheeks to cupping it with his palm, thumb brushing the top of Kuroo's cheekbone.

"Thank you, Captain," he said softly with a smile. Kuroo looked at him with surprised eyes and flushed cheeks. Morisuke skimmed his face quickly, taking in forever messy bangs and parted pink lips, charcoal lashes and eyes like burnished gold, and he allowed himself to brush Kuroo's cheekbone one more time with his thumb before roughly patting it once and taking his hand back. "There, I poured my heart out," he said, turning back to the window. "Stop whining."

Morisuke eyed Kuroo's reflection for all of two seconds before refocusing on the scenery going by. It seemed like they were almost home. Only a couple more stops until they hit Nekoma. He had to decide if he was gonna get off there and walk home, or continue taking the bus a little bit closer to where he lived. His original plan was to get off with Kuroo and Kai and Fukunaga and dick around a little bit before heading home, maybe go to the convenience store and sit outside like they did sometimes. Try to convince Kuroo to buy them hot chocolate since he was the captain and therefore obligated to do stuff like that. Now he felt a little embarrassed, and felt he would probably appreciate the alone time.

Since he stopped looking at Kuroo's reflection, he didn't see the way Kuroo moved in until he felt a gentle hand on his jaw, turning his face away from the window. Kuroo's face was suddenly close, so close, his palm warm and steady on his face, his breath brushing Morisuke's face. He was almost certain the ticklish feeling on his forehead was from Kuroo's bangs, they were that close.

"Kuroo?" Morisuke asked in the space between them. He didn't dare move.

"Yakkun," Kuroo said. "Morisuke. Thank you for pouring your heart out." He said it pretty earnestly. Morisuke shivered, unconsciously leaning into Kuroo's hand, seeking warmth even though he knew he hadn't shivered from the cold. "Can I kiss you?"

Morisuke looked into Kuroo's eyes, not sure he heard right but not wanting to ask again in case he hadn't. If he said anything, he knew it would come out stupidly blunt, so he focused intently on the corner of Kuroo's jaw as he nodded, face burning.

Kuroo let out what seemed like a relieved sigh and brushed Morisuke's cheek with his thumb like Morisuke had done to him earlier before leaning in and pressing their lips together. Everything was so warm, and the bus swayed them both gently as Kuroo pressed in a little more, lips soft and firm, a little insistent.

He pulled back a little only for Morisuke to follow him. Kuroo's hand was still on his jaw and he felt that hand press into his face until Morisuke got the hint and angled his head. Suddenly everything fit a little bit more perfectly, noses and lips slotting into place. Morisuke had to pull back a little to breathe, because he'd forgotten, and he hadn't even registered when his eyes had closed but he was opening them now.

They breathed for a moment. Morisuke looked up from under his lashes and saw that Kuroo's eyes were still closed, and he was blushing to his ears. He was cute, and Morisuke felt a little tender looking at him. He remembered the way Kuroo had said his name before they kissed and thought he'd return the favour. "Tetsurou," he said quietly, inaudible to the world outside of the space between their faces.

Tetsurou's eyes flickered open, his blush deepening, and his lips quirked up into an immediate smile. It was a teasing smile, but undeniably pleased. "Are we on a first name basis now, Mori-kun?"

Morisuke snorted but didn't move away. They were still so close, heads bent toward each other. "Don't push it, asshole."

"Hey lovebirds," a pleasant and familiar voice broke into their little world. They both turned in unison to see Kai and Fukunaga standing in the bus aisle by the back door. Kai looked amused, and Fukunaga's phone was out and pointed at them, which seemed kind of foreboding if you asked Morisuke. "We're gonna miss our stop."

On cue, the bus rocked to a rough stop, and since their heads were still so close together, Morisuke and Tetsurou's heads knocked together.

"Ouch!"

"Fuck!"

They scrambled to stand up and get off the bus in front of Nekoma, to the sound of Kai's exasperated chuckle and Fukunaga's quiet but gleeful snickers. Morisuke eyed where he and Tetsurou were sitting, as well as where Kai and Fukunaga had been, just to make sure they didn't leave any of their things behind. Good thing too, because he spotted Tetsurou's volleyball shoes underneath his seat and he shook his head as he darted to pick them up.

"Hey dumbass, you forgot your shoes," he said, thwapping Tetsurou's back with them as he hopped off the bus.

"Oh, thanks dear," Tetsurou simpered, because he was incapable of being serious for more than five minutes at a time. He moved to grab them and stuffed them into the open side pocket of his sports duffel and slung an arm around Morisuke's shoulder before facing Kai and Fukunaga. "Shall we go to the corner store? I'll treat you all to some hot chocolate."

Kai smiled and threw him a thumbs up. Fukunaga nodded absentmindedly, still tapping away on his phone. Morisuke was distantly aware of his phone vibrating in his back pocket and knew Fukunaga wasn't up to anything good, but he chose to ignore that for now. For the sake of his sanity.

They started on their walk, Kai and Fukunaga ahead of Morisuke and Tetsurou. "How's your head?" Tetsurou asked.

"In pain," he complained, subtly leaning into Tetsurou's side. "Why are you so hard-headed?"

"Why Mori-kun, if I wasn't absolutely sure I was the cause of your headache, I'd've asked if you hurt 'cuz you fell from heaven," he said amiably. 

Morisuke pulled out his phone to fiddle with it, trying to temper his own smile. "You're so goddamn cheesy," he said, remembering the times he'd sort of wished Tetsurou would throw a pickup line his way. "Tetsu," he added, quieter, just 'cuz he could.

Tetsurou suddenly pulled him into his side roughly, making a sort of squeaking noise that Morisuke would one hundred percent make fun of him for later. Morisuke laughed, and Tetsurou dropped a kiss to his temple, making another happy noise.

"I'm glad you acknowledge that you give me a headache," Morisuke said, unlocking his phone to direct his nervous energy, the grin on his face refusing to abate.

He started to say something else when he noticed the team chat had about a hundred missed messages. He opened it up to all caps texts from Yamamoto and Lev. A new one from Inuoka popped up.

_it looks like @yamamoto senpai owes me and @shibayama more meatbuns ~_

Shibayama replied with that gif of Jonah Hill freaking out, and then Yamamoto messaged _WHY DIDN'T THEY WAIT UNTIL THE TEAM HANGOUT ON FRIDAY_ with a bunch of crying and broken heart emojis.

Morisuke frowned and scrolled up to find photos of he and Tetsurou on the bus, their faces very very close together. Most of the photos were mostly covered by a bus seat, because Fukunaga had undoubtedly been sneaking them. The message underneath the photoset said _it looks like @kenma won the biggest pot, but are we surprised._

He blushed heavily at the implications and at the photos, but before Morisuke could react properly, the chat refreshed back down and another message appeared from Fukunaga. It was a picture of Morisuke standing outside with his head bowed, frowning at his phone. Tetsurou had his arm around him, leaning his head on Morisuke's and looking at the phone too--he hadn't even realized he stopped walking. Tetsurou snorted at the photo from above him, where he was resting comfortably on Morisuke's head.

He snapped his head up, banging Tetsurou's chin in the process (Tetsurou yelped), and aimed a severe glare at Fukunaga, who had his phone still aimed at them.

"Fukunaga!" he yelled, blushing harder, and moved to throw his own phone at his kouhai. Tesurou smoothly intercepted, grabbing the phone from his hand and replacing it with something else. Morisuke found himself throwing Tetsurou's volleyball shoes at a giggling, mischievous Fukunaga. Phone still resolutely pointed in their direction, Fukunaga waited until the last second to turn tail and run to Kai, who was very very far ahead of the rest of them.

Tetsurou laughed and placed Morisuke's phone back into his hand before grabbing his other one and smoothly tugging him along. "Come on Mori, we have some hot chocolate calling our names."

Morisuke grumbled but relented, looking down at his phone and trusting Tetsurou to lead him like he always led Kenma when Kenma was too busy with his own phone. They stopped a little ahead so Tetsurou could pick up his volleyball shoes, and Morisuke saw a new message from Fukunaga appear, a photoset of what just happened--Morisuke looking up, Tetsurou's blurred face as he got accidentally headbutted in the chin, a shaky photo of Morisuke in motion while Tetsurou laughed, a huge blur that was Tetsurou's volleyball shoes in midair. _this is the story of how i died_ , Fukunaga added.

He snorted and laugh reacted in spite of himself, and Tetsurou tugged on his hand to continue walking. He looked up to see Tetsurou look back down at him with a wide smile.

"So we're dating now, right?" he asked, grinning.

"Yeah," Morisuke replied, trying not to sound breathy. "Lean down so I can kiss you."

"I can tell now that our relationship is going to cause me a lot of neck pain," he said with a stoic face on. Morisuke rolled his eyes but waited for Tetsurou to lean down so he could peck him on the lips. "It's _so_ worth it though," Tetsurou said when he pulled back, almost to himself, his face still inches from Morisuke's own.

Morisuke made a mental note to think of ways to maybe have that not happen. His boyfriend's--boyfriend!--comfort was very much a priority for him.

They made their way to the corner store to catch up with Kai and Fukunaga, and then after hot chocolates outside in the cold, Tetsurou walked Morisuke home. He kissed Tetsurou on his doorstep, and went to his room to drop off his stuff and go shower.

Before that, though, he opened their team chat once more. There were a couple messages from Tetsurou: _@kenma you owe me half of your winnings since you've PROFITED off of ME, your BEST FRIEND!!!!!_ And then, _@everyone im proud of you all for the game against karasuno today, we were all amazing and i can't wait to see you all on friday :) <3 even when you're using me for financial gain, im proud to be your captain. _He ended his short slew of messages with one that was just a mention to Morisuke and a bunch of kissy face emojis. It had three thumbs down reacts, which made him laugh.

Morisuke felt stupid from how happy he felt, and he scrolled up to surreptitiously save the photos Fukunaga took of them on the bus, and outside. His favourite one was one on the bus where their faces were close together, Tetsurou's hand cupping his jaw, Tetsurou's bangs mixing with Morisuke's short brown hair. They were smiling at each other, faces a bright red. He was pretty sure this was right after they'd kissed.

He set it as his home screen's wallpaper, and then returned to the team chat so he could heart react to Tetsu's stupid kissy face message. Tetsurou immediately sent him hearts in their private chat, and Morisuke would never admit it to anyone on pain of death, but he definitely giggled as he shook his head and sent some hearts back.

Today, Morisuke and his team lost at nationals, but it was an honourable loss after an amazing game he couldn't have been prouder to have been a part of, and now he was dating the guy he'd crushed on for the better part of three years.

Some things worked out for the best. He couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for him.

**Author's Note:**

> kuroo threw that "fell from heaven" line at yaku, and even once asked yaku if he fell from a vending machine cuz "ur a snack", but he most frequently says yaku's from hell 'cuz all short people are automatically closer to it. yaku is not impressed.


End file.
